Friday, same-sex couples went into the Buncombe County Register of Deeds office to request marriage licenses — knowing they would be denied — as part of the WE DO campaign. Eight people were arrested in the ensuing sit-in. The protests originated in Asheville last year and have since spread to other cities throughout the Southeast, garnering national and international media attention. Images of WE DO’s return to its home city. Photos by Max Cooper.

Around 100 people showed up for a May Day rally this afternoon in Pack Square. Protesters focused better rights for workers, free education and opposed deportation of undocumented immigrants, among other issues. Police presence was light and the event remained peaceful. Photos by Max Cooper.

The budget, the water system, neighborhoods, food security, legislative goals, electronic gaming, and skateboards. Yes, all those topics (and more!) are on the agenda for tonight’s Asheville City Council meeting. There’s also two protests beforehand.

[Editor’s note: The Occupy movement’s unusual nature makes it hard to generalize about the group’s aims, beliefs and even actions. In developing this story, Xpress spent months talking with a variety of folks both inside and outside the movement. Nonetheless, there are doubtless other participants whose views differ from those presented here.] In Asheville, a […]

Enforcing a new city ordinance, the Asheville Police Department cleared tents from the Occupy Asheville campsite — one of the last public Occupy encampments in the country — in front of City Hall late yesterday evening. Three protesters, claiming the rules infringe their rights, were arrested for ordinance violations. Photo by Bill Rhodes.

In a Valentine’s Day meeting, Asheville City Council voted to evict the Occupy Asheville encampment in front of City Hall, one of the last remaining in the country, on Feb. 17. Council also unanimously backed a resolution supporting the city retaining control of the water system in the face of a state study. (Photo by Bill Rhodes)

Last night, Occupy Asheville’s coordinating council agreed on a letter asserting its camp in front of City Hall is “a representation of the people’s natural rights.” While not explicitly rejecting a proposal by Asheville City Council to voluntarily decamp, the letter didn’t accept it either, leaving an impasse over the fate of the camp heading into Council’s Feb. 14 meeting.

At the longest Asheville City Council meeting in recent years, the debate over the Occupy Asheville encampment was front and center. Motions both to create a permitting process for the camp and to ban it outright failed narrowly. In the end, Council agreed to put a resolution opposing corporate personhood on the Feb. 14 agenda, alongside a motion to give campers a deadline to leave. But, there will be porta-johns.
(Photo by Bill Rhodes)

A proposed permitting process for the Occupy Asheville encampment (which the protesters have rejected), is the main issue on Asheville City Council’s agenda tonight. Council will also consider a 92-unit apartment complex in South Asheville and changes to the city’s annexation plans, among other issues.

Tonight, Asheville City Council will vote on a proposal that would allow protest encampments — like the one Occupy Asheville members have established — in front of City Hall as long as individual campers received permits first. The ordinance would also allow demonstrations after the 10 p.m. park curfew in front of the Vance Monument.

Over 200 people showed up for a rally this afternoon protesting the Citizens United decision and calling for a constitutional amendment banning corporate personhood. The protesters marched from Pritchard Park to the federal building in downtown Asheville. Photo by Bill Rhodes

About 15 people gathered Jan. 19 in Pritchard Park across from the Bank of America and Wells Fargo offices in downtown Asheville to protest Wall Street’s involvement in the foreclosure crisis and to demand that President Barack Obama hold the big banks accountable by ordering a federal investigation into their practices. photo by Jake Frankel

While an assembly of some Occupy Asheville protesters came to a consensus last night to break camp tomorrow, a spokesperson for the protest tells Xpress that “the Occupation isn’t going anywhere” and protesters will remain in front of City Hall.

The Asheville-based WE DO campaign — where couples try to register for marriage licenses as a way of demanding an end to laws prohibiting same-sex marriage — is expanding to South Carolina. On Jan. 17-18, three LGBT couples will request licenses in Greenville, S.C.